In today’s digital landscape, your website’s design isn’t just about looking pretty – it can make or break your success on search engines and in paid advertising. If you’ve been searching for Google advertising help or trying to improve your search rankings, don’t overlook your site’s design.
A well-designed website can boost your SEO rankings and improve your Google AdWords (now Google Ads) campaign results, while a poor design could be holding you back. Let’s explore why website design and SEO go hand-in-hand, and how your design choices influence your Google Ads performance.
The link between website design and SEO performance
Web design and SEO are more connected than you might think. Search engines want to provide users with high-quality, relevant results – which means they favour websites that offer a good user experience. Several design elements directly impact your site’s SEO performance:
- Mobile-friendly design: Google primarily indexes the mobile version of your site, so a responsive design is essential for higher rankings. If your site isn’t optimised for mobile devices, you could be missing out on a significant portion of traffic.
- Site speed and performance: A slow site frustrates users and can hurt your Google rankings. If your pages drag on loading, you’ll lose impatient visitors (potential customers) and send negative signals to Google. Optimising your design for speed – by compressing images, cleaning up code, and using reliable hosting – improves both SEO and user satisfaction.
- Clear navigation and structure: An intuitive menu and logical page structure help visitors find what they need, and they help search engine crawlers index your pages more effectively. If people can easily explore your site (instead of bouncing back to Google out of frustration), it can improve engagement metrics that indirectly benefit SEO.
How web design impacts your Google AdWords and PPC results
Your Google Ads campaigns send traffic to your website. If that traffic lands on a poorly designed page, you may end up paying for clicks that never convert. Here’s how web design influences your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising results:
- Landing page experience & Quality Score: Google rewards ads that lead to user-friendly, relevant landing pages. If your page loads fast, is easy to navigate, and matches the ad’s message, you’ll earn a higher Quality Score (which can lower your cost per click). A poorly designed landing page, by contrast, can drag down your Quality Score and make your ads more expensive.
- Conversion rates: Clicks are only half the battle – the page must convince visitors to take action. A clean layout with a clear call-to-action (like a prominent button or form) is crucial. If a visitor encounters a cluttered or confusing page, they’ll leave without converting, wasting your ad spend. A professional, credible-looking design also builds trust, making people more comfortable contacting you or buying from you.
- Message match and consistency: Ensure the landing page reinforces whatever your ad promised, so visitors aren’t disappointed by a disconnect between ad and page. Consistent messaging and a cohesive design give users confidence that they’re in the right place, which improves your chances of converting that click into a customer.
What Google wants from your landing page
Google’s goal, whether in organic search or Google Ads, is for users to have a great experience on your site. To achieve this, your pages should tick a few key boxes: they must be relevant to the user’s query, easy to navigate, transparent and trustworthy, and fast-loading as well as mobile-friendly. Cover those bases with your design and content, and you’ll deliver the kind of user experience that Google rewards.
Common design issues that hurt both SEO and ads
Let’s highlight some frequent web design mistakes that can undermine your SEO efforts and your Google Ads campaigns at the same time. Avoiding these pitfalls will put you on the right track:
- Slow loading pages: Large images, unoptimised code, or too many fancy features can make your site slow. If pages take too long to load, users will bounce away and your search ranking (and ad performance) will suffer.
- Non-mobile-friendly design: If your site isn’t responsive, you’ll alienate mobile visitors. Google now demotes sites that aren’t mobile-friendly, and any money you spend driving mobile ad clicks will be wasted if those users can’t easily use your page.
- Poor navigation or structure: A confusing layout or broken links frustrate visitors. If people (or Google’s crawlers) struggle to find information on your site, it hurts your SEO. It also means ad-clickers won’t find what they need, leading them to leave early.
- Thin or hidden content: Pages with very little useful content (or content locked in images/animations) won’t rank well and won’t give users the info they want. Don’t rely on flashy design at the expense of providing substance – your content needs to answer visitors’ questions.
- Too many pop-ups: One pop-up offering a newsletter or deal can be OK, but inundating visitors with pop-ups or banners is a turn-off. Google even penalises intrusive pop-ups on mobile. Use these elements sparingly, or you risk driving people (and Google) away.
Tips to optimise your site for both search and ads
Designing or revamping your website with both SEO and PPC in mind doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Focus on a few core best practices to cover both bases:
- Plan with SEO in mind: Before you build a page, decide on the primary keyword or topic it should target, and design with that in mind. Make sure there’s a clear heading and space for informative text on that topic, so your page naturally includes the terms people search for (helping Google understand it).
- Use responsive, mobile-first design: Design your site for mobile users first, then scale up for larger screens. This ensures you meet Google’s mobile-friendly requirements and end up with a clean, fast site on all devices.
- Speed up your pages: Compress images, minify code, and eliminate unnecessary scripts or plugins to improve load times. Faster pages lead to happier users, better SEO rankings, and more efficient ad spending.
- Create dedicated landing pages for ads: For specific ad campaigns, create dedicated landing pages focused on that exact offer. With fewer distractions (like limited navigation) and content aligned to your ad, these pages will improve relevance and boost conversion rates.
How Swindon Web Creations supports joined-up design, SEO and advertising
At Swindon Web Creations, we build websites with the bigger picture in mind. From the start of a project, we weave SEO best practices and great user experience into the visual design. We structure sites to be easy for search engines to crawl and simple for people to navigate, so nothing gets in the way of users or your rankings. This approach is baked into our web design process.
We also ensure your website plays nicely with your marketing campaigns. If you’re running Google Ads, we can create (or advise on) dedicated landing pages that make it easy for ad-click visitors to convert. When someone clicks an ad and lands on your site, they’ll find exactly what they were promised, presented in a clear and engaging way.
Because we handle web design, SEO, and digital marketing under one roof, we make sure everything works together. In practice, that means your site’s content, technical setup, and design are all aligned – so it attracts search visitors and also converts ad traffic. Your website will look professional and work hard behind the scenes to turn more of your traffic into business.
Final thoughts
A well-designed website has a positive ripple effect across all your online marketing. If your site is fast, easy to use, and relevant, it can rank higher in search results and make your Google Ads campaigns more cost-effective. By contrast, design problems can undermine your SEO efforts and waste your ad budget by driving visitors away.
The good news is that once you recognise this link, you can make changes to improve both areas at once. Whether it’s a full redesign or just fixing a few key issues, the improvements you implement today can lead to more traffic, higher conversion rates, and better return on investment (ROI) from your digital marketing efforts.
Need help, or not sure where to start? Our friendly team at Swindon Web Creations is here to offer guidance. We specialise in creating high-performing websites that tick all the boxes for design, SEO, and advertising. Get in touch to discuss how we can boost your website’s performance – no hard sell, just honest advice to help your business thrive online.
